Shooting on Israeli-Lebanese border, fears of full-scale war

The Israeli army and Hezbollah exchanged new cross-border fire overnight from Thursday to Friday after an escalation in bellicose rhetoric between the two protagonists, raising fears of a large-scale war.

On Israel’s southern front, in the Gaza Strip, the war started on October 7 by an attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israeli territory, continued early Friday with Israeli bombings on several sectors of the besieged Palestinian territory.

The devastating conflict has sparked a surge in violence on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where exchanges of fire between the army and Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, have intensified in recent weeks.

Multiple attacks

On Thursday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for several attacks, including firing “dozens of Katyusha rockets” at a military position in northern Israel after one of its fighters was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli army confirmed having “eliminated” a commander of the movement and struck “a surface-to-air missile launch site” of Hezbollah, a group armed and financed by Iran, Israel’s sworn enemy. During the night from Thursday to Friday, the Israeli army said it had intercepted an “aerial target” launched from Lebanon and local media reported Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon.

In Washington, Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi and Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer spoke with Foreign Minister Antony Blinken, at a time when relations are straining between the Biden and Netanyahu administrations.

During this interview, Antony Blinken “reiterated the United States’ unwavering commitment to Israel’s security,” said his spokesperson Matthew Miller. The American Secretary of State also stressed “the importance of avoiding a new escalation in Lebanon” through a “diplomatic solution allowing Israeli and Lebanese families”, displaced by the exchange of fire at the border, “ to return home,” added Matthew Miller.

Cyprus under threat

In an incendiary speech on Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned that “no place” in Israel would be spared from his movement’s missiles and drones in the event of an Israeli attack on Lebanon.

On Tuesday, the Israeli army announced that “operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon” had been “validated”, and the head of diplomacy Israel Katz affirmed that “in a total war, Hezbollah will be destroyed”.

Hassan Nasrallah also threatened the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, saying he “has information” that Israel could use, if attacked, “airports and bases” in this European Union country closest to the coast. from the Middle-East. These accusations are “devoid of any basis”, affirmed the Cypriot government. Cyprus “is not and will not be involved in any conflict.”

The threats from Hezbollah, a movement which exercises a preponderant influence in Lebanon, have caused concern. “It is unclear whether this story will end in war or an agreement. I would prefer an agreement,” said Shimon Kamari from Kiryat Shmona (northern Israel). “Lebanon does not want a war, no one wants a war. We are tired, there is the (serious) economic situation and on top of that a war… We cannot continue like this,” said Sofinar, a resident of Beirut.

In the event of war, Hassan Nasrallah warned, Israel would have to “wait for us by land, sea and air,” adding that his movement had received “new weapons” and had more than 100,000 men ready to fight. .

“It is crucial that all parties stop shooting,” said the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.

Fighting continues in Gaza

On October 7, Hamas commandos carried out an attack in southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. Among the 251 people kidnapped that day, 116 are still held in Gaza, 41 of whom are dead, according to the army.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas which took power in Gaza in 2007 and is considered terrorist by the US, EU and Israel. His army launched a major offensive which has devastated Gaza and left 37,431 dead so far, mostly civilians, including 35 in the last 24 hours, according to data from the Ministry of Health of the Gaza government, led by by Hamas.

In Rafah (south), fighting continues between Palestinian soldiers and fighters, as do Israeli bombings. Strikes also targeted central Gaza, killing two people, according to a doctor, as well as areas in the north of the small Palestinian territory threatened by famine according to the UN.

“We will not leave Gaza before the hostages have all returned and before eliminating the military capabilities of Hamas,” reaffirmed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while a new demonstration bringing together Israelis hostile to his conduct of the war took place in Jerusalem.

Asserting in a separate statement that Israel was waging “a war for its existence,” Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that his country needed weapons from the United States, its historic ally, after deploring delays in American military aid on Tuesday.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby called Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments on the delays “disappointing” and “offensive”. “No other country,” he said, “is doing more to help Israel defend itself against the threat of Hamas (…).”

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